WASHINGTON — An aggregates company’s proposal to build a 26.9-mile rail line to haul rock from four Texas quarries has run into local opposition.
Texas Materials Group has asked the Surface Transportation Board to approve its plans to build and operate a new rail line in Burnet and Lampasas counties. The shortline would connect to the Austin Western Railroad near Burnet, Texas, and to BNSF Railway’s Lampasas Subdivision near Lampasas, Texas.
To serve four quarries in the Burnet area, Texas Materials would reconstruct approximately 12.5 miles of track on the right-of-way of a Texas & New Orleans Railway line that was abandoned in 1951, as well as 14.4 miles of new railroad. The new railroad would carry an average of 1.6 120-car unit trains per day — and take up to 800 truckloads per day off Texas roads.
Texas Materials anticipates that AWRR and potentially BNSF, via trackage rights, would operate on the proposed line.
The STB is currently accepting comments as part of its environmental review of the proposed railroad. Area residents are up in arms over the proposal, which they say would devastate their ranches while harming the environment and creating noise and safety risks.
More than 1,750 residents have signed an online petition opposing the project.
